William Dunbar

Don't give up with that girl, Odd. Just look at me, I never lost hope with Yumi!
–William to Odd in How to Fool X.A.N.A.

William Dunbar joined Code Lyoko at the beginning of the second season as one of Yumi's classmates. In Final Round, he became the sixth member of the Lyoko Warriors, until his first trip to Lyoko, when X.A.N.A. possessed him and used him like its general until the episode, Down to Earth, where he was freed and returned as an ally. He returns in Code Lyoko Evolution, and permanently joins the team at the end of the episode Rivalry.

Personality and Character

I'm not the kind of guy who likes to steal the show.
–William to his teammates in Final Round

William has a strong personality. Being a fighter, he doesn't hesitate to let things get messy with Ulrich when he provokes him in A Bad Turn. He says that love can drive him crazy, and it's true, because he jumps at the chance to go out at night, against the rules, to visit Yumi. He's a hopeless optimist; he continues to follow Yumi even when she seems to be fed up with him, but he is also extremely curious, unfortunately for the group.

He is sometimes childish; the best example is in Final Round. In these cases, his immature side is clearly seen, but this aspect of William is also obviously present in his provoking side.

But his strong point, which catches the group's attention, is that he is really brave. In Lyoko Minus One and The Secret, he fights against his entire possessed class and a construction worker who is also under X.A.N.A.'s possession, respectively. He manages to disarm a bomb with seven seconds to spare. William also has great mental strength. In the whole series, he is the only person who has managed to fight X.A.N.A.'s influence in The Lake. So, prowess is a word that can be attributed to William's character, but it's not the only one; he's also very frank and doesn't mince his words. He's also serious, but some of his actions are ridiculous. For instance, his puerile reaction during his first virtualization, or his repeated flirting attempts.

There is a universal trait among all the character's good and bad qualities: he is persevering. In the end, however, this is what makes him touching: when he became himself again, the heroes rejected him tactlessly in Fight to the Finish, and yet he still wanted to lend a hand if they needed it. That's why, although William can be blamed for many things, there is still some good parts inside him.

Biography

William was kind of a loner at first, having been kicked out of his previous school for posting love letters everywhere, but Yumi soon talks to him as a friend. To nobody's surprise, William wants to be more than just friends, causing conflict between him and Ulrich, when both of them vie for Yumi's affections. His appearances in the show become more frequent during the third season, when Jeremie suggests to the team that William should join their group, everyone except for Yumi agrees. As fighting on Lyoko becomes harder and harder and X.A.N.A. starts to force Aelita to delete the first four of Lyoko's sectors, the group decides to let William join as the fifth backup on Lyoko.

However, X.A.N.A. takes advantage of William's ineptitude and uses the Scyphozoa to take control of his mind and body, effectively trapping him in Lyoko. Jeremie creates a stable polymorphic spectre with William's basic memories, and a basic personality in order to prevent suspicion among the school. Over time, this "clone" becomes much more popular than William was, but due to his 'dumb' personality, he unknowingly causes trouble for the warriors. His personality also became a bit of a gag in the show, best seen in the episode Wreck Room. In the episode Down to Earth, William is finally freed from X.A.N.A.'s control, and returns to Earth. However, his behavior pre-X.A.N.A., causes tension between him and the rest of the Warriors, who are reluctant to associate with him any further, as seen in Fight to the Finish.

In tandem with this, in Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity, he was a secondary antagonist. However, he was still rescued from X.A.N.A., complete with recycled footage from Down to Earth.

William's role in the new series, Code Lyoko Evolution, is to seek redemption, which he later succeeds. In Cortex, after Odd got himself locked up in a utility room, William, instead of helping him out, went to the Cortex and takes Odd's place. For this, Odd was really mad at him, even having a thought of devirtualizing him. After rejoining the team, they stop fighting and became friendly to each other. In Rivalry, William and Ulrich put down their disagreements after William saves Ulrich from falling into Digital Sea. William becomes more serious about the missions in order to be worthy for the others to trust.

When the Lyoko Warriors discover the existence of source codes, William appears to be the only one who does not have them. This makes him a more distanced member, as he is the only Lyoko Warrior who cannot deactivate towers. That doesn't stop him from becoming a vital support to the group when X.A.N.A. attacks or while exploring the Cortex, always fighting with passion and resolving many situations.

Being one of the codeless only deprives him of the ability to deactivate towers on Lyoko. On Earth, William is not targeted by spectres. This makes him the only one who can be exposed to them without risk, or almost none.

In Mutiny, William returns in X.A.N.A.'s possession after he falls victim to the Scyphozoa. However, since the monster fails to seize him completely, it remains attached to William. Later, he is freed thanks to the help of his friends.

William is not given a major role in the group's major decisions. Not only does he support his friends in the fight against X.A.N.A. and its spectres, he also supports them in the discovery of the Cortex and Tyron's Ninjas. Finally, he is on their side for all major decisions regarding what to do next, especially after the discovery of Aelita's mother's survival.

After the team infect the Cortex with their virus, William stands beside Aelita and the rest of the group and says that Aelita is strongest of them. When they go to the Supercomputer Room to shut it back down again, it is a clear sign that he earned his place in the group, once and for all.

Appearances

Season Two

New Order (debut)
Uncharted Territory (cameo, no lines)
Saint Valentine's Day
Final Mix
Missing Link
The Chips Are Down (cameo, no lines)
Marabounta
A Bad Turn
Attack of the Zombies
Ultimatum
A Fine Mess
X.A.N.A.'s Kiss
Vertigo
The Key

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five/Code Lyoko Evolution

Every single episode, with the exception of Spectromania.

Video Games

Relationships

Yumi Ishiyama

Unlike Ulrich, William doesn't hide his feelings toward Yumi. Since William arrived at Kadic, he is often seen together with Yumi, chatting with her, and sometimes acting romantic toward her, as seen in Saint Valentine's Day. If that wasn't bad enough for Ulrich, Yumi seems doesn't mind with it. In A Bad Turn, William directly declared his feelings for Yumi, even trying to steal a kiss, but Yumi rejected him. She remained silent when William asks her if her rejections are because of Ulrich. Nonetheless, William still remained the same throughout, not hiding his feelings for Yumi from the rest of the world.

During Season 3, William became a pot of glue, which started to annoy Yumi. She clearly tells him this in The Secret and denounces his "two-bit Casanova act", upsetting William. She doesn't appreciate him as much as she used to, and she was the one who refused to let him enter the team following a group vote, though William was convinced that Ulrich was the one who had rejected him. However, she changes her mind at the end of Double Trouble and thanks to her, William joins the group.

X.A.N.A.'s possession at William gave the complex love triangle between himself, Yumi and Ulrich some fresh air. This event moves the tension far away from matters of the heart. Nevertheless, the veracity of William's feelings is pressed in The Lake. Yumi calls the real William while he is preparing to devirtualize her. The real William resurfaces and tries to stop X.A.N.A. from attacking Yumi. In vain, unfortunately.

After William is freed and X.A.N.A. was defeated, Yumi tells him the truth: he's not the one she loves, and he has to give up hope. However, William will not give up that easily.

In Evolution, William is clearly still in love with Yumi. He shows to be slightly seductive towards her in X.A.N.A. 2.0 by complimenting her hair, and tries to give her love poems in Mutiny. He even declares to Odd in How to Fool X.A.N.A. that he never lost hope with Yumi.

However, William seems to have backed down a little, since he never expressed his feelings directly to Yumi as he had done in the past. He even invites Ulrich to support her in Suspicions. In False Pretenses, Odd asked William if he had kissed Yumi yet, to which both the real William and the X.A.N.A. clone responded in the same hesitant answer, saying "Uhhh... pass." This made Odd face palm because they wouldn't answer the question nor did it help distinguish the real William from the fake one.

Ulrich Stern

Since his first arrival at Kadic, Ulrich was the only member in the group who had problems with William, due to both of them competing for Yumi's attention. At first, William doesn't take it too far, but for Ulrich, things quickly turn very hostile. He becomes convinced that William is doing anything he can to seduce Yumi, although at this point, William's intentions were just to get to know her better. In Marabounta, William quickly found out that Ulrich also has feelings for Yumi. Instead of trying to out-do him, William tries to give Ulrich advice, which given his huge amount of pride, Ulrich doesn't follow at all, so William decided to take his chance. If Ulrich didn't want to listen to him, tough. William gets closer and closer to Yumi, and that's when he realizes that Ulrich is one of the reasons why Yumi doesn't reciprocate his feelings. Since then, William's rivalry with Ulrich became more obvious. William has tried to humiliate him in front of Yumi, insulting and provoking him, even getting into a fist-fight with him in A Bad Turn.

Despite their rivalry, William has shown that he doesn't mind teaming up with Ulrich when the situation calls for it, as seen in Lyoko Minus One, when he joins Ulrich to rescue Yumi from X.A.N.A.'s attack, and when he helped Ulrich stop the bomb in The Secret.

During Evolution, William and Ulrich are still on bad terms because both of them are still competing for Yumi's heart, and also because of William's prior possession by X.A.N.A.. However, they decide to put their differences aside in Rivalry, when Ulrich refuses to team up with William in an attempt to prove to everyone that they don't need William. In the end, William and Ulrich decide to become friends after William saves Ulrich from falling to Digital Sea. Since then, they've stayed on good terms, despite William still hoping for Yumi.

Odd Della Robbia

William has a pretty fine relationship with Odd. Odd likes his rebellious side, but deplores his lack of humor. Before William joined the group, they are rarely seen having interactions with each other. The most notable one is in Final Mix, when Odd offered to help him fix a mixing board that William had accidentally dropped, and in A Bad Turn, when he teamed up with Odd to defeat a materialized Krab.

In Cortex, William was very upset at Odd when he refuses to let William rejoin the group, also because Odd reminded William about how he got captured by the Scyphozoa like an amateur. Later in the episode, William get his revenge at Odd by taking Odd's place in a mission and ignoring Odd, who was locked in locker room (he even asked Odd about how it feels to be trapped like an amateur). Due to this, Odd was very mad at him. After William rejoined the group, they started to have a good relationship again. Often, William gets annoyed by Odd's crazy acts on Lyoko, despite sometimes he finds it helpful.

Jeremie Belpois

During Season 2, William is almost never seen talking with Jeremie. The only time they were interacting in Season 2 was in Attack of the Zombies, where William tried to prevent Jeremie and his friends from leaving the cafeteria because of the zombies.

Even after William joined the team in Season 3 and rejoined in Evolution, they are still rarely seen together. Despite this, they are still good friends.

Aelita Schaeffer

Just like with Jeremie, William is rarely seen talking with Aelita before he joined the team. The only time they talked in Season 2 was in Final Mix, when Aelita was fixing the mixing board and William offered her to be a DJ in the school party.

After he rejoined the team in Evolution, they become good friends. Often, William saved the day for Aelita in missions, as seen when he saves Aelita in Cortex, and when he sacrificing himself to save her in Suspicions.

Laura Gauthier

Laura appears to be the member that William was being the least open to. He shows to be incapable of stopping her from going to the factory in Virus. He has never shown to be outwardly hostile about her presence in the group and he accompanies her on her last stand in Mutiny. During this period, he even draws Laura's attention to the consequences her behavior would have on her being in the group. In the end, he remains silent when the group decides to ban her. This tacit sympathy is due to the fact that Laura is in a more or less similar situation to his.

Fighting on Lyoko

William wields a big sword called Zweihänder. Its name literally means "Two-Hander" in German. Traditionally, Zweihänders are wielded with two hands due to their great weight. Evidence of the sword's weight can be found in the episode Final Round, when William attempted to hold it with one hand, and then dropped it. His sword also fires energy slashes when he swings it.

Current Power

Super Smoke: An ability much like Ulrich's Super Sprint, but instead of simply running at speed, William turns into smoke to pass away from people, monsters, or other things. The black smoke can suspend other people in a paralyzed state. He still has this power in Evolution. Since he has no vehicle, this is his only transportation.

Former Abilities

Second View: The ability to see much farther away in the same sector. This is was only available while under the control of X.A.N.A.
Levitation : An ability that allows him to levitate by holding his Zweihänder by both hands and pointing downward. Only available under the control of X.A.N.A.
Tower Control: Ability to activate a tower for X.A.N.A., from the inside or outside. This mimics Aelita's power and it is possible X.A.N.A. allowed him to use a version of the Annex Program. Only available under the control of X.A.N.A.

Vehicle

Black Manta (Formerly) - A unique Manta for William to ride on as a vehicle.
Rorkal (Formerly) - A virtual ship like a Nav Skid created for William, but he was given a black, independent one by X.A.N.A, who made it by using the data it had stolen from the Skidbladnir in The Lake.
Nav Skid - One of the Skidbladnir's minimum-sized fighting ships. In the original Skid, there was one more which was probably meant for William. After he rejoined the team, he got one for himself in the new Skid.

Etymology

William is an English variant of the German given name Wilhelm, which itself roughly translates to "the will to protect". Dunbar is a surname of Gaelic origin, taken from the town of Dunbar in southeastern Scotland. The name loosely translates as "fort on a summit", a reference to Dunbar Castle, located on headland overlooking the North Sea.

Trivia

In the French version of Code Lyoko, he is played by Mathieu Moreau. In European Portuguese, he was played by Quimbé.
William only makes a cameo in the Code Lyoko novels.
X.A.N.A. likely chose to possess William because it saw the most potential in him as a weapon out of all the other Lyoko Warriors due to his recklessness.
While possessed by X.A.N.A. in Lyoko, William's sword's appearance changes, similar to the black and white parts of a tower on Lyoko.
On Lyoko, William's form is a Doppelsöldner. Doppelsöldners were specific types of mercenaries who volunteer to fight, which means to take on extra risks. In exchange, they earned double payment. Interestingly, they also used the Zweihänders.
- William's sword is a specific type of Zweihänder called "schweren Schlag" (literally "heavy blow" in German). It is a type of Zweihänder that has a heavier bass blade, spanning the entire hilt. Normal Zweihänders weight around 15 kg, while the schweren Schlag is between 30 kg and 45 kg. This may be why William cannot wield his sword in one hand, as most fighting styles can utilize this.
William's original Lyoko avatar's design bears resemblance to Mister Pück's outfit.
He was the first character to receive a new, more modern/futuristic outfit in Jeremie's upgrade, although William's was given to him by X.A.N.A.
He was the only character to obtain a X.A.N.A. suit (unless one counts the polymorphic clone from Revelation who shape shifted into an evil version of Ulrich).
Despite the possibility of X.A.N.A. using the Scyphozoa to possess Ulrich's temporarily uninhabited body in Nobody in Particular after his brain got separated from it, William is the only male member of the Lyoko Warriors who has been a victim of the Scyphozoa's attacks.
In A Bad Turn, William reveals that he participates in a go kart club, and extends an invitation to Ulrich to join, which he accepts. This club is never mentioned again after this episode.
In the episode Vertigo, it is revealed that William is afraid of spiders. Ironically, during his time as a slave of X.A.N.A., in episodes like Lab Rat and Dog Day Afternoon, he is shown riding on Tarantulas that resemble spiders.
There was an unused Nav Skid on the Skidbladnir when it was created. It was, most likely, intended to be used by William in case he was freed from X.A.N.A.'s control. Once freed, he is seen in his own Nav Skid in The Warrior Awakens.
He was the last person in the real world to be possessed by X.A.N.A., before Code Lyoko Evolution, though he still remains the last one as there haven't been any new human-possessions yet.
Oddly, in a A Lack of Goodwill, he was shown to be wearing the new clothes his clone had. However, in Down to Earth, when he is freed from X.A.N.A., he was wearing his Seasons 2-3 outfit for some reason.
In Final Round, he began to glow purple under X.A.N.A.'s control when he ran extremely fast or levitated. Later in the series, he just uses his Super Smoke ability to accelerate.
Odd's laser arrows cannot hurt William while he using his Super Smoke, as seen in Bragging Rights.
In Double Trouble, William confesses to Yumi that he recalls the events from The Secret in a dream, despite those events never happening due to a return to the past. The reason for this has never been explored in the series.
- However, a logical reason could be that the return to the past can cause Déjà Vu to those who haven't been scanned by the Supercomputer.
It is possible that William dislikes chemistry class; this is said in Ultimatum as he tells Odd, "Lucky you, we got chemistry."
In Season 3, it is strongly indicated that William likes to pull pranks on Jim.
So far, he is the only Lyoko Warrior with two battle themes.
When William was repossessed by X.A.N.A. in Fight to the Finish, it shows that he doesn't have resistance to X.A.N.A like the others do.
- X.A.N.A. easily repossessing him would make sense considering how he only went to Lyoko once and was possessed for the entire fourth season, as it was revealed in the episode Mister Pück that spectres are useless to possess anyone who has been sent to Lyoko and back multiple times. Or that the Scyphozoa somehow took away whatever it is that made him immune to possession as it has been shown the Scyphozoa can do much more than just possess, it can take away digital DNA (as shown in Missing Link when it attacked Yumi), memories (as seen in Season 2), the Keys to Lyoko (as seen in The Key), or life energy (as shown in The Key when Aelita died after the Scyphozoa attacked her).
William was the only Lyoko Warrior in Code Lyoko Evolution who didn't have X.A.N.A.'s Source Codes, until Odd had all of his codes taken away in The Codeless.
Other than Aelita being shown to land on her feet when being virtualized in a flashback in Aelita, William was the only Lyoko Warrior to land on his feet when first being virtualized.
In Evolution, William no longer yells out "Super Smoke" when he uses it.
He is the only one to have immediately devirtualized the real Ulrich when Ulrich used his Triplicate ability, as shown in Double Take.
William and Laura are the only Lyoko Warriors who never made an appearance in Season 1.
Aside from Laura, since she was never virtualized, William is the only Lyoko Warrior who has never been to the Virtual Limbo.
In the Evolution episode Mutiny, it is revealed that he is afraid of being repossessed by X.A.N.A.. This can be seen when he frantically asks Laura to devirtualize him (and almost did it himself) as soon as he sees the Scyphozoa.
There are several real people named William Dunbar: A Scottish parliament member, a US representative from Louisiana, a scientist, a songwriter, a Cholera researcher, and a missionary.